


A Complication

by Joracwyn



Category: Wheel of Time - Robert Jordan
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-26
Updated: 2020-02-26
Packaged: 2021-02-28 05:34:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 471
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22908649
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Joracwyn/pseuds/Joracwyn
Summary: On the night following Shadar Logoth, Moiraine muses on Lan's unexpected attraction to the Wisdom.
Relationships: Nynaeve al'Meara/Lan Mandragoran
Kudos: 24





	A Complication

**Author's Note:**

> I needed a writing break from another fic in another fandom and it just so happened that I'd got to this point in my Eye of the World reread. So here's my teeny ficlet. Sorry if it's a bit rough around the edges - I didn't want to spend any time agonising over it!

As she set wards around their camp, Moiraine spared a glance for Lan, who stalked into the darkness, his face set hard. 

_This was a complication we could ill afford._

That he couldn't hide it from her made the whole situation as embarrassing for him as it was dangerous for them all. Yes, dangerous. She needed Lan to be as focused as he had ever been, and the absent Wisdom was a distraction. Moiraine did not question whether he would ever turn from his duty — duty to her, to the subjects he should have had, to the oath that was sworn for him by the hilt of a sword in his infant hand — she knew there was not a power below the Light that could do that. But somewhere in the very depths of his being she could feel his loyalty being torn asunder. 

Settling herself on a log, she channeled some water hot in her cup and added a pinch of tea, her eyes tracking Lan's circuit of their position. He needed to rest, but he could not, because he did not know where the Wisdom was. Moiraine herself felt some concern for the girl's safety, but not much. It was not she whom the Dark One was seeking. On the other hand, Moiraine could well envisage the Amyrlin's reaction once she learned that a woman of Nynaeve's potential had slipped from Moiraine's grasp. She smiled grimly to herself at the image, before she resumed her ruthless prying into her Warder's emotions through the bond. 

It was a small thing, this feeling Lan could not hide, as yet but a seed beginning to sprout. But against all odds this seed had managed to find its way through a crack in the rock of which Lan was made, and that was…more than remarkable. 

Moiraine could not understand what it was about the Wisdom that should have fractured Lan's defenses. The girl was headstrong and stubborn and not even master of herself enough to hide the simplest emotion. But something about her had caught at him with the unexpectedness of a thorn on an otherwise innocent stem. 

He fought against this feeling with everything he had, and for that very reason Moiraine felt certain that it would thrive. For while he vainly sought for the first sign of a leaf in the bleak landscape of his soul, waiting to crush it, the roots would spread unchecked and sturdy beneath the stone. Once it finally sent forth its green shoots, it would be unstoppable. He might cut one, but another would surely find its way to the light.

_And what happens then will be as the Wheel wills._

With these grave thoughts to occupy her, Moiraine peered into the darkness, to where her Warder waited for the woman he dared not love. 


End file.
